Chapter 20: Capture

The young man in the cave knew that seven people were surrounding him outside and realized it would be extremely difficult for him to escape through the cave entrance alone.
“I can’t get out through the entrance—so if they can’t trap me, I’ll just hollow out this mountain,” he thought angrily.
Immediately, he picked up a large axe and began chopping fiercely inside the cave. Wherever the blade passed, the rocks shattered, and dust rose, creating a passage hundreds of meters long.
Then, he continued chopping nonstop and actually dug out a one-mile-long passage through the mountain.
“Hmph! If I want to go out, who can stop me?” he growled angrily, ready to deliver the final strike and fly out through the passage.
But at that moment, a powerful force struck the passage he had dug, sending countless rocks and mud rushing in.
The young man stood frozen as those rocks hit him. He released his inner energy, unafraid of the impacts, but his heart turned icy cold. Ahead, there was already another cave entrance, but seven people were waiting outside, sneering as he tried to escape.
He was blocked again!
By now, the young man was almost desperate, knowing that no matter how much he dug, the people outside would always block him.
“Who are you? Why are you trying to trouble me?” he shouted angrily.
In response, an ice spell was cast, covering the newly formed entrance with ice, while Qu Yi and his six companions laughed sneeringly.
Clearly, Qu Yi wanted to toy with this young man.
Inside the cave, the young man sat down dejectedly, deciding that since he couldn’t escape, he would stay in the cave. If anyone dared come in, he would fight them to the death.
After a while, the ice blocking the entrance melted as his inner energy dissipated.
Qu Yi scanned with his spiritual sense and saw that the young man had given up and stayed in the cave. A smirk appeared on his lips as he felt proud.
“Alright, everyone. Enough playing. Let’s drive him out together,” Qu Yi said with a smile.
“Yes, Master,” the six replied in unison.
Moments later, they all took out their magical weapons and attacked the mountain peak with devastating force—blood pythons, bone apes, and ice blocks all targeting the peak at once.
Boom!
The entire mountain peak was instantly flattened, leaving the young man standing alone on the ground, surrounded by a black aura of energy.
“Haha, everyone, one more round—knock him down!” Qu Yi ordered without any pity at all.

Bai Sen and the other five exchanged a knowing smile, immediately raising their magical weapons, ready to launch another attack.
“Wait, why are you treating me like this? Tell me directly what you want,” the young man said anxiously upon hearing Qu Yi’s words. If they attacked again, not only would his vital energy be exhausted, but he would surely be reduced to ashes.
Qu Yi watched with a smile and then said, “Fellow cultivator, release all your vital energy, or I’ll attack.”
The young man’s face turned red with anger. Qu Yi still wouldn’t reveal his intentions—did he really want to torture him to death?
“Fine, I’ll release my vital energy!” Though angry, the young man remained rational enough to realize that fighting desperately was useless, so he obeyed immediately.
Qu Yi swiftly flew down and struck the young man with a palm. A strand of golden vital energy flowed into the young man’s body, completely sealing his vital energy.
“Don’t worry, I won’t kill you. I just want to invite you to join us. You’ll be freed later,” Qu Yi said with a smile.
With his vital energy sealed, the young man was terrified, but hearing Qu Yi’s words, he felt somewhat relieved.
After securing the young man, Qu Yi calmed down and called out, “Everyone, let’s head north now and capture those three guys there too.”
With that, Qu Yi took off in flight.
The six behind him immediately took the young man and the previously captured man in black and followed Qu Yi.
……
In another direction, Qing Wu Gui led six others and had also located their target, surrounding them.
The target was an old man in white robes, whose water-based vital energy was extremely powerful. Every ice spell he cast forced the six attackers to stay at a distance.
Qing Wu Gui watched quietly from the side.
This was Qing Wu Gui’s most satisfying moment, as he could analyze the energy characteristics of both the old man and the six others. By understanding the energy traits of these seven late-stage Yuan Ying cultivators, he could learn more spells.
“You wretches! You’ve broken the rules of the Hundred Demons Mountains. I’ll expose you and have all cultivators in the world hunt you down!” The old man shouted angrily as he fought desperately to defend himself.
As he shouted, he waved a jade cane in his hand, summoning nine ice dragons.
Each ice dragon was fifty meters long, made entirely of ice, yet extremely agile and fierce. As soon as they appeared, the nine ice dragons attacked the six attackers together, forcing them to retreat far away.

Seeing Qing Wu Gui fighting so desperately, the old man immediately drew out his black sword and prepared to attack. Otherwise, if the old man managed to repel those six people and use the opportunity to teleport away, it would be troublesome, and San Ding Men’s plan would be exposed.

The black sword was drawn, with nine golden rays embedded within its black essence, swiftly charging toward the old man.

“Nine Dragons Return!” The old man saw that the black essence carried murderous intent and also felt a heavy oppressive force. Not daring to be careless, he immediately recalled the nine ice dragons.

The nine ice dragons flew back instantly, each one confronting the black essence one after another. One ice dragon shattered in an instant, leaving not even a trace of ice shards, while the black essence continued its attack, completely destroying the second ice dragon as well. With unstoppable momentum, the black essence wiped out all nine ice dragons in a row, and a palm-sized mass of essence continued flying toward the old man.

The old man’s expression turned panicked. He hadn’t expected Qing Wu Gui to be only at the middle stage of the Yuan Ying realm, yet his attack power was even stronger than that of those in the later stages.

“Ice Shield!” The old man immediately shouted.

Water-based essence was released, forming a huge ice shield that blocked the final wave of black essence.

The six people who had been repelled earlier flew back immediately and launched their spells together again. Blood Eagles, Bone Leopards, and hundreds of ice spears appeared in the air and attacked the old man right away.

After witnessing Qing Wu Gui’s power earlier, the old man had wanted to teleport away, but with spatial disturbances everywhere, it was impossible to do so. Now, facing another coordinated attack from six spells, he had no mind to escape and could only do his best to withstand this wave of attacks.

“Ultimate Ice Cold!”

The old man shouted with all his strength, and a misty space formed around him. The coldness emanating from it was so intense that even his spiritual consciousness would freeze if it entered. His figure was also hidden within this space.

The spells from all around immediately struck the misty space.

The Blood Eagles pounced, but even without moving their claws or opening their beaks, they froze to death. The Bone Leopards rushed forward with a gust of wind, but upon hitting the misty space, they shattered and disappeared instantly. The ice spears falling from the sky were like an endless sea of drops, all swallowed up by the misty space.

All six spells were blocked by this strange misty space, which showed no signs of collapsing.

Qing Wu Gui and the six people were all shocked. They thought to themselves that this old man was indeed extremely powerful. If it weren’t for the seven of them working together, they would likely have all been killed by him.

After a while, the misty space dissipated, and the old man reappeared.

“Who are you? What’s your plan?” the old man shouted, his face filled with exhaustion and his breath weak.
It was obvious that from the start, he had been ambushed and surrounded. Even now, he didn’t understand why Qing Wu Gui and the others were attacking him. Although he guessed at their plans, he knew nothing about them, which only increased his anger.
After speaking, the old man collapsed to the ground as if asleep.
“Haha, this guy’s vital energy is exhausted; he’s fainted,” said one of the six, who practiced ice-based cultivation techniques.
Qing Wu Gui used his spiritual sense to confirm that the old man was unconscious. He immediately flew down, slapped his palm, and injected a strand of black vital energy into the old man’s dantian.
Of course, Qing Wu Gui also used the “Vital Energy Stab” to bind the old man.
…
Meanwhile, in another group, Xue Can and seven others were also searching for and capturing their targets.
At that moment, these eight people were flying in the air, each carrying two people on them.
These sixteen people had already been captured by Xue Can’s group, and their vital energy had been sealed.
Xue Can’s group was now heading back to San Ding Men to hand over these sixteen people to Wei Yan before going out to search for more targets to attack.
It turned out that Xue Can’s eight people went out one by one, challenging cultivators one by one. After defeating them, they would immediately bind them before moving on to find more cultivators.
Only after each of the eight had captured two people did they stop their attacks and reunite.
…
Qu Yi’s group, on the other hand, headed northward into their search area, dividing into three groups to attack the three cultivators there simultaneously.
With experience from the first round, these three groups knew the strengths of each other’s spells. With their cultivation at the late Yuan Ying stage, they quickly thought of cooperating to surround their targets.
Naturally, in this round of attacks, the three groups easily captured the three cultivators.
By now, Qu Yi’s group had captured five cultivators at the late Yuan Ying stage.
The group reunited once again.
Qu Yi looked at the five captured cultivators, who all glared at him resentfully. He merely sneered.
“You don’t need to curse or insult me in your hearts. Since you’ve been captured by us, just stay put. Right now, you feel humiliated, but in the future, you’ll surely be glad that I captured you,” Qu Yi said calmly.

At these words, Bai Sen and the other six, along with the five who were captured, all showed disdain. Qu Yi smiled faintly and didn’t go into further detail.